As 2015 draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to recognise 17th Street’s 10th anniversary!17th Street first went live on December 31st, 2005 with the aim of providing Caleb Carr’s readers with a one-stop resource for the Alienist books. Although I had hoped to put something together to commemorate this special milestone, time has not been on my side for the second half of the year; however, as 2015 turned out to be the year I finally made it to New York City — even staying for a week in a brownstone on Irving Place and 17th Street — perhaps I have recognised the milestone after all. For those readers who haven’t seen an account of my travels, you can read about them in the two Following The Footsteps of Dr. Kreizler blogs posted earlier this year.

To close out 2015, I have two final updates to 17th Street’s content that may be of interest to visitors. First, The Alienist TV Series page has been updated to reflect the news that Cary Fukunaga will not be directing the entire TV series. It is not yet clear who else will be directing or how having more than one director will impact the series, but as more news comes to light it will be updated here. Second, Caleb Carr recently wrote another op-ed that has been added to the Other Publications page.

Thank you all once more for an enjoyable year of running 17th Street. 2015 has proven to be an exciting year for Alienist readers with a considerable amount of news regarding the eagerly anticipated TV series, more news regarding Caleb Carr than we have seen in many years, and for this lucky Alienist reader, there was also my aforementioned trip to New York City. In addition to those updates, 17th Street has also seen the addition of four new book blogs, a discussion piece on the books we love, and various odds-and-ends updates to the website content. Finally, for the curious among you, here are the top ten most frequently visited pages on the site throughout 2015:

It has long bothered me that The Alienist’ssupporting characters do not yet have completed character profiles here on 17th Street, particularly the historical figures. In order to correct this, I have decided to devote the next several months to finally completing the profiles once and for all. By way of beginning, you can find the newly completed character profile for Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor below as well as on the supporting characters list.

I cannot predict how long it will take me to complete the rest of the profiles given that most are historical figures, and I will be aiming to read at least one biography for each figure to aid me in completing their profile. I apologise for the lack of updates this will undoubtedly produce, but I’m sure you would agree with me that completed profiles for all the supporting characters are long overdue, and I hope you will understand why I’m taking the time away from the blog in order to finally complete this section of the site.

Connor, Detective Sergeant Patrick

Appears in The Alienist

John Moore, journalist and narrator of The Alienist, first meets Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor when he views the body of Giorgio Santorelli atop the Manhattan-side anchor of the Williamsburg Bridge in the opening chapters of the novel. Described only as slit-eyed and bearded, Connor is an adherent of the policing practices and attitudes that prevailed under Thomas Byrnes, the former police superintendent who had been forced into retirement the preceding year as a result of the wave of reform that followed the Lexow Committee’s investigation into police corruption. After initially causing Dr. Laszlo Kreizler consternation for spreading false information about the identity of the Giorgio’s murderer to members of the press, it does not take long before Connor is expelled from the force after it is discovered that he had also beaten Giorgio Santorelli’s father unconscious for refusing a bribe from a mysterious group attempting to hush the murder up.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains spoilers for The Alienist

Despite his removal from the police force, Connor reappears later in the investigation when he forces John Moore and Dr. Kreizler into an ambulance at gunpoint in order to transport them to a meeting with the mysterious group composed of church officials, anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, and even the former police superintendent who have been covering up the murders and are opposed to the team’s investigation. Although the moderator for this meeting, the powerful financier J. P. Morgan, gives his approval for the investigation to continue after hearing Dr. Kreizler’s arguments in its favor, it soon becomes apparent that Connor and his associates—working under orders from others in the group who remain steadfastly opposed to the investigation—are determined to continue tracking Dr. Kreizler and the rest of the team as they perform their investigation, with tragic consequences.

When Dr. Kreizler and John leave New York City to follow a promising lead toward the conclusion of the investigation, Connor and his men lose track of their quarry and invade Dr. Kreizler’s house to establish his whereabouts from his household staff. Employing their usual strong-arm tactics, Connor and his associates attempt to beat the answer out of Dr. Kreizler’s young ward, Stevie Taggert; however, they are thwarted in this attempt by Mary Palmer, the Doctor’s housekeeper and love interest, who attempts to fight them off with a kitchen knife. Although she is successful in scaring them off—with her knife ending up in Connor’s side—she is knocked to the bottom of a flight of stairs during this altercation, and breaks her neck.

Even though Dr. Kreizler removes himself from the investigation at this point in order to care for Stevie and grieve the loss of Mary, it eventually transpires that Connor and his men have continued to track Dr. Kreizler’s movements. On the night Dr. Kreizler agrees to rejoin the investigation—a night when he knows the murderer, John Beecham, will strike—Connor follows Dr. Kreizler to the site of the final confrontation with Beecham, and intervenes with the intention of ensuring that Beecham is killed once and for all. Although Dr. Kreizler foresees this eventuality and takes steps to ensure their safety by hiring additional protection in the form of gangster Jack McManus, Connor still manages to kill Beecham before Sara Howard arrives on the scene and finally stops the former Detective Sergeant with a fatal shot from her revolver.

Although no new information has been released regarding the television adaptation of The Alienist that was first announced in April and May of this year, I have decided to add a new page to The Alienist Books section of 17th Street containing the information that has been released thus far about the adaptation. In addition, The Alienist movie page has been updated to reflect the news about the new television drama series, and The Alienist TV Series blog tag has been added to the side menu. When any new information about the series does come to light, it will be reported here on the main blog as well as on The Alienist TV Series page.

A mobile version of the 17th Street layout is now available for iPhones and Android devices. Hopefully this will make the site easier to navigate for those of you who access 17th Street on a phone. The mobile layout contains a slider with latest news and blog posts, along with an easy to use menu for accessing the remaining website content. At present, the desktop version of the 17th Street layout is still used for iPads and other tablets.

If you encounter any problems using the new mobile layout, please feel free to contact me.